BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="l_raty" data-source="post: 1663096" data-attributes="member: 24811">I'd actually be curious to know what people think of Marcgrave's bird in practice. (In any case, I wouldn't give too much weight to criticisms like the above one, because the author probably didn't have the smallest idea of how a juv caracara looks--and if the bird illustrated by Marcgrave was a caracara, as far as I am concerned, it was clearly a juvenile.)The best on-line representation of Marcgrave's work is, I think, this one: <a href="http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/289304" target="_blank">http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/289304</a> Here is a fast translation of the description:"CARACARA for the Brazilian, Gaviaon for the Portuguese, a species of hawk, a bird of the size of a kite: it has a 9-inch-long tail; the length of the wings, that however do not extend to the tip of the tail, is 14 inches. The color of the feathers is entirely of a grey-yellow tone with white and yellow small spots: the tail is variegated with white and dusky. Raptorial head, with a hooked, moderately large, black bill. It has yellow legs, with raptorial feet, with crescent-shaped, black, very acute and long nails. A bird strongly dangerous for hens. I had another of the same kind, with dimension and feather color like the preceding, but the breast and belly were white. Eyes golden, and skin around them yellow-orange. Legs yellow."Now, what do you think -- can this be the SC Caracara, or do you recognise something else here?</blockquote>

Verification